The terrifying and disfigured creature that had taken the place of the hauntingly beautiful woman now stood eye level with Sesshomaru. Akumu's body slowly began twisting to the same direction her head was currently facing. As the body of Akumu lined up with its head, Sesshomaru could see Rin in her grasp. Rin's eyes were beginning to glass over, her pink lips now pale blue; all color from her cheeks drained.
"Isn't she a beautiful child? She has told me so much about you, Lord Sesshomaru, over the years" Akumu's head began tilting, almost becoming horizontal with the ground, as she looked down at Rin. The creature's elongated and icy fingers, with blackening nails, gently brushed against Rin's cheek.
Sesshomaru's desire to kill was taking over as his eyes turned from a molten gold to a vicious red.
"I know you are not one to talk great lord, so allow me to introduce myself. I am Akumu, I am Rin's greatest and most horrifying fears, I am her nightmares." Akumu's head was lifting back to Sesshomaru's deadly stare.
"I care not who you are, you will release the girl now." Sesshomaru's grip on his sword was now white knuckle.
"I have been with her since her family was killed by bandits, since the wolves killed her…and since she's met you. Our dear little girl shows me all her secrets, I watch her suffer in her dreams from what she fears most. It is a delicious nightmare really." Akumu took a slow step towards Sesshomaru, causing the ice covered ground to crack. "Would you like to see her darkest nightmare? I do enjoy it greatly."
Akumu raised her long and slender graying arm, and cast a black veil that spread over the land. Twisting and gnarled branches sprouted out from the darkness, the air became thick and hard to breathe. Akumu let Rin down gently and patted her head. Rin's eyes were no longer glassed over, they were searching for something, someone. As Akumu released Rin, she whispered into Rin's ear: "You will never reach your lord in time."
Sesshomaru had had enough of this game, he leapt to run towards Rin, but found himself becoming further away with each step. Akumu's laughter filled the air; a cackling and maniacal laugh was all Sesshomaru could hear echoing through the reality of the nightmare, until one word, one voice, shattered all of it.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin was running over jagged rocks and through slashing branches, she stretched one small and desperate hand out to him.
Akumu crept from the darkness and over Sesshomaru's shoulder, whispering into his ear as she delightfully watched him fill with rage. "You see Great Lord, this is what your ward lives through over and over again."
"You will end this now!" Sesshomaru turned to grab Akumu's throat, and was met with black nothing.
"As you wish Sesshomaru" Akumu's voice snapped Sesshomaru's concentration back to the nightmare unfolding in front of him. He was met with Rin's gaze, the small girl standing steps in front of him; tears pouring down from her eyes and freezing as they shattered upon the ground. Sesshomaru went to reach for Rin, his Rin, but found he was unable to move amongst the darkness that surrounded them.
"Rin…" Akumu slithered up from behind the girl's small frame and rested a ghostly hand over Rin's shoulder.
"Rin, do you still wish to be with your lord?" Sesshomaru began to speak to tell Rin not to fall to Akumu's games, but found not even a breath to carry his command on. Akumu's gaze stared intensely at Sesshomaru as she continued to speak to Rin.
"Yes, I want to always be with Lord Sesshomaru." Rin's eyes were now tightly shut, as if she was trying to wake from the nightmare that had become a reality.
"Will you give anything for that wish? Anything to end this nightmare?" Akumu's grasp on Rin's shoulder tightened, black nails beginning to puncture through cloth and skin, and drawing small droplets of blood.
Sesshomaru was gathering all his might trying to stop Rin from answering Akumu, yet still found no sound for a voice. The rage that had been building within Sesshomaru was quickly being replaced with creeping dread.
In a small and defeated voice, the answer Akumu had been looking for, escaped from Rin. "Yes."
"Sesshomaru, isn't it horrifically magnificent how nightmares become the terrors that they are, right before awakening from them?" And with Akumu's words, Rin's eyes grew wide with pain, and a piercing scream shattered the darkness around them.